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TV briefs 7/21

12:08 a.m. EDT July 21, 2014

Bryan Cranston portraying President Lyndon B. Johnson during a performance of "All the Way." HBO Films has acquired rights to the Tony Award-winning play, which opened earlier this year to critical and popular success while also winning Cranston the Tony as Best Actor. Robert Schenkkan will adapt his play for HBO, the company announced.(Photo: Evgenia Eliseeva/Jeffery Richards Associates/ AP)

The actor's character of Gibbs will appear on the latest "NCIS" spinoff based in New Orleans, which begins shooting next week in the Crescent City.

"NCIS: New Orleans" stars Scott Bakula, Lucas Black and CCH Pounder and deals with the investigation of criminal cases. Harmon serves as an executive producer in addition to his duties starring in "NCIS," which started as a spinoff of "JAG" and heads into its 12th season this fall.

"I'm here to help," Harmon told the summer TV critics' meeting on Thursday. "I've learned a few things in 12 years and I'd be glad to pass a few along or not."

Harmon and "NCIS" co-star Pauley Perrette will make crossover appearances on the new show. Actor Rob Kerkovich has been added to the cast as a forensic scientist who will work with Pounder's character.

Bakula appreciates having the backing of an established franchise in launching the latest spinoff, although he admits to feeling pressure.

"We have to earn our place," he said. "It's not a given."

If history is any indication, Bakula might not have to worry.

"NCIS: Los Angeles," starring Chris O'Donnell and LL Cool J, began as a spinoff and has found a successful home at CBS.

"We have big shoes to follow," Bakula said. "The ball that's being handed off is a perfect spiral."

Cranston reprising role in 'All the Way'

HBO Films has acquired rights to the Tony Award-winning play that opened earlier this year to critical and popular success while also winning Cranston the Tony as best actor.

The company said Robert Schenkkan will adapt his play for HBO.

"All the Way" focuses on Johnson early in his presidency after the death of President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

HBO hasn't specified an air date.

Cranston made his Broadway debut in the play fresh from the much-acclaimed finale of his AMC drama series, "Breaking Bad." He's nominated for a best-actor Emmy for that show.

Leoni gets go-ahead from kids to work

BEVERLY HILLS – Tea Leoni got the go-ahead from her kids to get back to work.

The 48-year-old actress has worked sparingly in recent years while being at home with 15-year-old daughter Madelaine and son Kyd, whose father is actor David Duchovny.

"I turned to my 12-year-old son and I said, 'It's going to be a little tricky. I'm not going to be around as much. Are you cool with that?' " Leoni said Thursday at the summer TV critics' meeting.

Leoni plays the U.S. secretary of state with Tim Daly as her husband in the upcoming CBS show "Madam Secretary." Her last movie role came in "Tower Heist" in 2011, and she starred in TV's "The Naked Truth" in the 1990s.

Morgan Freeman serves as an executive producer of the new show.

CBS planning new late-night era

BEVERLY HILLS – CBS is taking a wide-open approach to replacing Craig Ferguson in late-night, including the possibility of a host from politics, CBS Entertainment chief Nina Tassler said Thursday.

Details of the late-night transition from David Letterman to Stephen Colbert and from Ferguson to a yet-to-be-found replacement remain undecided, Tassler said.

Whether the host of the 12:30 p.m. Eastern show that follows Colbert's "Late Show" comes from comedy or perhaps even the political realm is under discussion, she said.

"We're looking at it through a very different lens," she said.

That raises the interesting if surprising possibility of a politics-focused late-night for CBS, depending on how Colbert approaches his new job.

Network meetings will be held in August to discuss the scheduling of Colbert's 2015 debut as "Late Show" host, Tassler told a Television Critics Association meeting.

There have been preliminary discussions with Colbert but, Tassler noted, he remains occupied with his duties on Comedy Central's "Colbert Report."

Letterman announced in April that he would retire next year but didn't say when.

As for the show's format under Colbert, he has said he wants an interview approach, Tassler said. But other details — such as whether there will be a band — are up in the air.

Colbert has already said he will leave his "Colbert Report" character, a blowhard conservative, behind. When he debuts on "Late Show" as himself, he'll be joining NBC's Jimmy Fallon and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel as the new late-night vanguard following the retirement of veterans Letterman and Jay Leno.